


UPDATE: LIFE AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD! Quitting Youtube + what I'm doing next! :)

by aibari



Series: this is how it works [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Marriage Proposal, Post MAG160, Script Format, The Magnus Archives Femslash Week, what the girlfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aibari/pseuds/aibari
Summary: After the end of the world is averted, Melanie has some announcements to make.For day five of the Magnus Archives Femslash Week 2019.5: Proposal.
Relationships: Georgie Barker/Melanie King
Series: this is how it works [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586131
Comments: 22
Kudos: 140
Collections: The Magnus Archives Femslash Week 2019.5





	UPDATE: LIFE AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD! Quitting Youtube + what I'm doing next! :)

**UPDATE: LIFE AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD! Quitting Youtube + what I'm doing next! :)**

200,542 views – Sep 10, 2019  **👍12K 👎1.4K**

[ _INT. DAY. THE LIVING ROOM OF GEORGIE AND MELANIE'S FLAT._

Melanie sits on a beat-up green couch, grinning widely at the camera. She is wearing sunglasses and a black t-shirt with the words “WHAT THE GHOST” printed on it. There are two glasses and a jug of water on the table in front of her. Sunlight brightens the room.]

MELANIE

( _cheerfully)_ Hel _lo,_ viewers! Long time, no see!

GEORGIE (OFF-SCREEN)

( _muffled)_ Oh my _God_ , Melanie...

MELANIE

( _slightly manic_ ) Or _not_ see, in my case! It's been a long time since my last video, but I felt weird just leaving this hanging, and we've finally got the normal internet back, rather than the spooky, cursed kind. That was pretty messed up!

It's been a long … wow, it's been years, hasn't it? ( _laughs_ ) It's hard to know where to start.

[SHE TURNS HER FACE TOWARD GEORGIE OFF-SCREEN]

It's … I guess I should tell you what's been going on since my last video.

GEORGIE (O.S.)

( _reading_ ) “About the MEME THING”, question mark question mark question mark.

MELANIE

Wow, okay, I'm clearly going to be put on blast today.

GEORGIE (O.S.)

Yep!

MELANIE

I just want you all to know, now that we're all on the same page –

[SHE LEANS CLOSER, FACE SERIOUS]

MELANIE

– _I was fucking right._

[SHE SITS BACK AGAIN AND SMILES]

MELANIE

Soooo that was a bad time for me. After Ghost Hunt UK folded and the meme happened, I went to India to do some research on war ghosts. And while I was there, I got shot –

GEORGIE (O.S.)

\- by a ghost!

MELANIE

\- by a ghost. And then I came back and got a job at the Magnus Institute, which was somehow worse!

[SHE SPREADS HER HANDS OUT, BABY JAZZ HANDS.]

MELANIE

Turns out! The archives of the Magnus Institute are basically a _Hotel California_ situation. I couldn't quit, and my boss was an all-seeing, mind-reading monster man who'd been possessing a number of different white guys since the nineteenth century.

[SHE LAUGHS.]

MELANIE

It sounds like a lot when you say it like that, doesn't it? Just imagine the shittiest privileged prick you can and then multiply that by like, a thousand.

GEORGIE (O.S.)

The _worst!_

MELANIE

Thanks, babe. So I was stuck working there for a while, until one of the blokes I worked for figured out how to quit. Turns out the way to leave the Institute of the Eye is to blind yourself.

[SHE LAUGHS, BUT NOT LIKE IT'S FUNNY.]

MELANIE

You'd think these eldritch fear gods and their followers would be a bit more interesting, but the Eye really isn't that creative, in the end. ( _looking at Georgie)_ In a way I was kind of disappointed, you know? I mean, it's very poetic and dramatic and gruesome, but where's the _flourish?_ Where's the _innovation?_

GEORGIE (O.S.)

It's _stale!_

MELANIE

 _Yeah!_ Four out of ten on originality, mate.

Anyway, I quit. ( _she taps her sunglasses_ ) I adjusted a bit, and was just kind of starting to think about … making this video, I guess. Maybe starting a podcast. I was thinking … maybe I'd do like, board games or book reviews or something. Or one of those rpg actual plays? Nothing was really solid, but I kept coming back to it.

And then the world ended.

GEORGIE (O.S.)

 _Almost_.

MELANIE

Okay, _almost_ ended. There was a whole fear apocalypse. All fifty shades of fear, just walking around in the streets and eating people.

… Well, _fourteen_ shades. Probably.

You were there for that. You know the whole …

[SHE GESTURES VAGUELY WITH HER HANDS]

MELANIE

Yeah. Anyway, we made it!

GEORGIE (O.S.)

Yaaay!

MELANIE

And I mean, I know I haven't updated this channel in years, so it probably isn't a _huge_ surprise that I'm not going to update it _more_. But I wanted to let you know. It's meant a lot to me that you've followed my channel, and I wanted to get this out to you.

And, you know, I have other projects you might like. ( _grins_ ) So that's another reason. And – ok, Georgie, come here –

[SHE GESTURES VIOLENTLY WITH HER HANDS]

GEORGIE (O.S.)

( _laugh_ ) Okay, okay, hang on –

[GEORGIE ENTERS THE FRAME. HER HAIR IS PULLED BACK WITH AN ORANGE SCRUNCHIE. SHE IS SMILING, AND WEARING A T-SHIRT WITH THE _GHOST HUNT UK_ LOGO AND HOLDING A LARGE, GINGER TABBY CAT. SHE SITS DOWN NEXT TO MELANIE.]

GEORGIE

There.

MELANIE

( _quiet_ ) Thank you. ( _turns back to the audience_ ) You may recognise the lovely Georgie Barker, of _What the Ghost_ fame. We even cohosted for a bit during the whole end-of-the-world thing! Though, uh, if you didn't hear, some of those episodes weren't us. Sometimes when the internet goes wrong, it also corrupts your creative and personal projects.

GEORGIE

Which sounds like a pretty good metaphor for something else, if you think about it.

MELANIE

Let's _not_ think about it!

[GEORGIE LAUGHS.]

MELANIE

So I won't be making videos anymore, but we _are_ planning on doing a joint podcast soon! More details on that as we get a bit closer to the end of October, so if you're interested, please subscribe to my twitter at ghostking underscore sixty-nine –

GEORGIE

( _snort)_ Nice.

MELANIE

Thanks, I do my best. _Or_ you can follow Georgie's twitter at gbarker or the official _What the Ghost_ twitter if you'd rather hear about it there.

[SHE REACHES OVER TO SCRATCH THE ADMIRAL'S CHIN. THE PURRING IS AUDIBLE.]

MELANIE

We're both posting _lots_ of pictures of the Admiral, too. Don't miss out!

[SHE PULLS HER HAND BACK.]

MELANIE

I _also_ have two more ... _personal_ announcements. Number one: _yes_ , Georgie and I are girlfriends, and it's great. She is the best girlfriend I have ever had, she's lovely and funny and smart and kind.

GEORGIE

( _laughing_ ) You know you have to work harder than that if you want to make me blush, babe.

MELANIE

Oh, I know.

[SHE TURNS AROUND TO FACE GEORGIE PROPERLY; THE CAMERA CATCHES HER PROFILE.]

MELANIE

Which brings me to the second thing.

[SHE TAKES GEORGIE'S HANDS.]

MELANIE

Georgie.

GEORGIE

( _realises what this is_ ) Oh my God.

MELANIE

I love you so much. You're … you've been such a solid, dependable constant for me for, for years, and ( _getting choked up_ ) you are the m, the most remarkable person I know, you brighten up every room you're in. I can't imagine what my life would be without you. You're – you're just – you're the _best_ , Georgie.

[GEORGIE LAUGHS. THEY ARE BOTH CRYING.]

MELANIE

Will you marry me?

[GEORGIE LUNGES TOWARD HER. THE ADMIRAL STARTLES AND JUMPS OFF OF HER LAP, TIPPING OVER THE JUG OF WATER ON THE TABLE.]

[THE IMAGE CUTS TO A BLACK SCREEN. WE HEAR MELANIE'S VOICE.]

MELANIE (V.O.)

Okay, we're just going to do this the simple, fix-it-in-post way. I just have … three more things to say.

First of all, I want to say thank you to Georgie for editing this video for me. She says sorry about the lack of graphics, but I'm just going to imagine she put cat-face filters on us or something, and in my mind, that'll be true.

Thank you, Georgie! You're the best. Those cat ears really suit you.

Second of all, um. She said yes.

( _farther away from the microphone_ ) _YES!_

( _back to normal distance_ ) That was me punching the air, by the way.

Third of all … ( _deep breath_ ) Okay, let's take it back to something a bit more serious.

I hope you're doing okay, dear viewer.

Yeah, I'm talking about _you_ personally. I hope the end of the world didn't hurt you as much as it could have. I hope you had people with you who love you. I hope you _have_ people with you who love you.

It's been a really, _really_ long night for all of us. Or, er, whatever time of the day is signified by all those eyes, I guess.

It's been a long … a long time, and it's been hard, but I believe that we can recover from this.

We may never be the same again after this. Broken bones you've had to walk on don't really heal the same, you know? And it's going to be … painful, in a lot of ways, and many of them won't be the ones you expected. It's going to be hard, in a different way than the end of the world was hard, and difficult.

Wounds hurt as they heal. Sk-skin itches as it knits back together. Sometimes you might get that phantom limb feeling, like whatever thing or person you lost is still there.

It's going to suck, but it's just a part of … of all this, you know? Of bones being reset and healing. Just because it hurts you, that – that doesn't mean you're not doing your best. It doesn't mean you aren't healing, or growing.

Just – whoever you are, _wherever_ you are … don't be alone with it. Talk to your friends and family about what you're going through. Let your friends and family share their stuff with you. Support each other, you know?

And, and if you feel like you have no-one, but you _want_ to – to connect, to talk, to just … feel like someone else knows you're out there, existing –

I don't have like, the end-all, be-all solution to this or anything. And, you know, “just reach out” can feel like kind of bullshit advice when you're struggling. But … everyone's lonely sometimes, you know? And last month, the cost of fucking up was dying a terrifying death, but now it's just _feeling like_ you're dying a terrifying death.

Which is a huge improvement, if you think about it.

And, um. If you want to, you can send a message to Georgie or me, and we'll boost it for you. Just a short thing, you know, with your name and age and maybe some of your hobbies? And … and anything else you think people should know. And then maybe someone listening will hear it and think, yeah, this sounds like someone I want to know.

I'm … ( _laugh_ ) I didn't write this part down. It's a bit messy. I had more of a script for a bit there, but I just.

[SHE SIGHS.]

MELANIE

Dear viewer. I don't know you, and I guess you don't really know me, either. But I want you to be happy. I want you to do things that make you happy with people you care about. I want you to learn how you fit into this new world we're living in now, even if it hurts.

It's worth it. I _promise_ you, it's worth it.

[SHE TAKES A DEEP BREATH.]

MELANIE

This is Melanie King, signing off. Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for watching.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. MELANIE IS A YOUTUBER AND WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THIS  
> 2\. for this entire series I've pretty much constantly about that one tumblr post about how georgie/melanie is a bit like if one of the bsu guys had a big breakdown on camera, fell off the map completely, and then when he came back, years later, he was dating Griffin McElroy  
> 3\. If you want, you can find me on [tumblr](https://aibari.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/aibari)!


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